Projects

Seascape Workshop

On Tuesday 18 August 2009, Robert Minhinnick ran a series of creative writing workshops at Porthcawl Comprehensive School with the Bridgend Summer Playscheme.

The day’s events were run in partnership with Academi and Bridgend Arts Development Officer Andre Van Wyk. Forty children aged 8-13 from Porthcawl worked with Robert Minhinnick to create a series of poems and riddles about sea animals.

The children also worked with local environmental artist Emma Lamportand created images to illustrate their poems from recycled beach debris. The poems and artworks were on display at this year’s Seascape Exhibition in Porthcawl Grand Pavilion from Wednesday 9 to Sunday 13 September.
Poems:The Turtle

The turtle’s shell is hard as a rock
And as green as moss
It squeaks like a mouse
It feels like cement
Turtles live up to 100 years Megan

Squid

With many tentacles and lots of ink
Don’t make it scared or it will think
With a large head and just two eyes
Here’s a hint it can disguise
It swims with style as if it can fly
Now answer me this, who am I?

Dolphin

Porthcawl dolphins are like a bluey grey sea
Dolphins are beautiful creatures
Just like you and me
Watch them jump the waves
Hear the crash as they dive into the sea

Starfish

Starfish, starfish
Pink, white and grey
In the deepest of rockpools of Rest Bay

Shark

A shark’s teeth are as big as a man’s finger
They never close their eyes
And they never sleep

Sea Cucumber

The sea cucumber is fat
It is green and slippery
You can find them in rockpools in Porthcawl
And you can discover them in the ocean in Spain LilliSharks

The shiny shimmery shark swimming to the ocean shore
The slimy sly shark sitting down silently
The shark silently soaring in the ocean breeze
All the sharks are swimming ready to see the sea king Lois

Seagull

Seagulls cry like a baby
Seagulls eat peoples litter
Instead of catching their own fish
They fly in circles watching people as they drop food
They fly in the air like planes in the sky

The Blue Whale

Blue Whales are enormous they must be gi-normous
Blue Whales eat plankton; all it does is look for food
It comes behind you; it swims in front of you
What will it do but eat plankton

The Sloth

It has three toes which can cut through wood
It lives on maggots and leaves which is a healthy diet
It lives in South America around Argentina
It sometimes hangs from a branch for months not moving an inchThe Shark

It is as sly as a fox
It is as quick as lightning
It is as wet as water
It can kill you before you even know it Rosie

Starfish

My sweet starfish is as shiny as a star
It is orange like the sun in the sky
It crawls like a spider
And a starfish is shiny like a fish Danielle

Sea Snails

Sea snails move slowly on the seabed
A slimy body with a tough shell
If they are not careful, they will be eaten
The pull themselves in to look like a rock

My sweet dolphin

My sweet dolphin swims in the sea near Porthcawl
It makes the sound of a mouse troodling along
If I touch it, it feels slithery and slimy
It looks like a flash of the shiny sky

Dolphin

Dolphins live in the sea
It travels very quick
They do not sleep
They speak to each other with a click

Dolphin

They sound like opera singers
When they talk to each other
They glide through and dance
They are slippery Emily

Lochness Monster

He’s as long as can be
He’s so spiky he has only one knee
He drifts off into the sea
Comes out at night and gives everyone a fright

The Whale

A whale is a very massive animal that
Lives in the deep blue sea
It’s tongue is as large as an African Elephant
A baby can swim through the veins inside the massive body

The Shrimp

The shrimp is so small it must be miniature
All it does is look for plankton
Dodging nets as they come towards them
Other than that it’s quite peaceful MarkSea Monster

As green as grass the sea monster is
He’s as big as a tree
He’s hard and rough and quite very scaly
He growls and he bellows in the middle of the night
He is quite, quite scary when he does that
He gives me a fright

Squid

A squid, a quick splat there and another one
Squishy and soft but slimy as well
When they are frightened a cloud of ink pops out
Squid is the biggest animal in the world